Atomic Requiem
by Hollywood Phoenix
Summary: Two years after The Last Stand, Wolverine can't get over his guilt. When a chance to find the woman he loves surfaces, he can't ignore it. Only, he's unexpectedly accompanied by a former firecracker who is harboring demons and secrets of her own.


Title: Atomic Requiem

Author: Hollywood Phoenix

Summary: Two years after The Last Stand at Alcatraz, Wolverine hasn't completely gotten over his guilt. When a chance to find the woman he loves surfaces, he can't ignore it. Only, he finds himself unexpectedly in the company of a former firecracker, who is not only grown up, but harboring demons and secrets of her own.

Rating: M

Feedback: Please provide comments! I need to improve and get some encouragement.

Characters: Wolverine, Jubilee, and all other X-men are from Marvel comics.

Disclaimer: X-Men and all other related subsidiaries are the property of Marvel Comics. I only mean to borrow the characters for a little while... I'm totally not making money off this.

---

Prologue: Nice Night For a Ride

It was a typical, calm night at Xavier's School for Gifted Children. The tennis courts were dimly lit and empty. Water in the brightly lit fountain flowed casually into the pool below it. The flowers nestled comfortably in the flowerbeds arranged pleasingly around the school mansion. And all of the school's inhabitants were slumbering peacefully under the cool glance of a full moon.

All except one.

Logan was dreaming.

"Loooooogaaaaan... Loooogaaaaan..." a plea gently flowed through the darkness. It was a familiar plea, but he couldn't quite place it.

Although he peered hard into the darkness, Logan couldn't see a thing.

"Loooooogaaaaan..." it breathed again, this time much more recognizable. His own breathing became laboured as perspiration began to spot his forehead.

"Help me!"

Logan abruptly leapt out of his bed, claws fully extended. His bare chest heaved as he shook his head. The moonlight that streamed through his windows provided enough light for him to make out his surroundings clearly. When he realized that he was alone inhis ownroom, his body relaxed visibly. Retracting his claws, he turned to stare at himself in the mirror.

The reflection staring back at him under the moonlight was one that he knew well over the years. He hadn't changed physically but inside, he felt tired. Once upon a time, he had always counted on the drive that coursed so naturally through him. Over the last few years, he had felt that wane,most especially that urge to leap into action or just go off into the unknown, wherever it would take him.

"That's it," he thought grimly to himself, "all I need to do is get out of here."

But to where?

He laughed inwardly. It was a sardonic laugh. He had nowhere to run anymore. And even though he had things, many things still, to run from, he knew that he couldn't, wouldn't ever outrun himself. Plus, he had responsibilities now. He had a school-full of children to take care of.

When did he ever get to be so damn... stuck?

It was two years to the day since he saw gravity defied at his dreaded former haunts at Alkali Lake. Two years since he witnessed a miraculous return from the dead. Two years since he saw Charles Xavier vaporize before his eyes. And nearly two years since that Last Stand at Alcatraz, the fateful day that reclaimed the life of the woman he loved.

A life that he had been forced to end himself.

He clenched his fists and hunched over slightly as he tried to scowl at his own reflection but instead of looking menacing, he only looked more exhausted. It was no use. He had no energy left to fight the memories. He closed his eyes, knowing full well that he wouldn't stop his thoughts from floating back to those days two years prior. His mind paused as it remembered the tall red-haired figure that had been so calmly, quietly, and yet almost hesitantly, full of joy and life.

No.

Logan shook his head more vigorously. He was going to stop dwelling on the past. He had to move on. He had gotten so good at moving past the pain when he thought he'd first lost her at Alkali Lake, so why couldn't he do the same again?

Tensing his muscles, he swiftly pulled on a t-shirt and jeans. Leaving his room and going down the dark hallway, he listened intently for sounds from the mansion's other inhabitants. No one else seemed to be awake. With stealth agility, he made his way to the garage. But when he got to his bike, his normal glare flashed and his nostrils flared. Everything looked as it should be, with one exception. The engine was hot, so hot that he could feel the heat emanating from it two feet away.

And he could smell the culprit.

But before he could leap at the figure that was crouching in the shadows behind him, a voice casually broke through.

"Nice night for a ride, huh?"


End file.
